Mobile App Metrics You Should Measure in 2021

A study by Marketing Dive finds that about 85% of people prefer mobile apps over websites. No wonder that more and more businesses are investing in mobile app development services to get a step closer to the audience.

If you have a mobile app for your brand, we don’t want you to stop at that. There are approximately 4.83 million apps available in Google Play Store and Apple App Store combined. Therefore, you need to be a little more proactive to measure the performance of your mobile app. An insight into mobile app metrics will help you to optimize the application properly.

Now, there are lots and lots of metrics to measure and it can be overwhelming for you to select the most important ones. No worry, we have made it easier for you. Read the blog to the end to find out the handpicked metrics that you need to start measuring n 2021 to stay ahead in the competition.

Important Mobile App Metrics: A Comprehensive List

We will classify the metrics into three categories for your easier understanding. These include:

• User Acquisition Metrics
• User Engagement Metrics
• User Retention Metrics

Let’s get started.

1. User Acquisition Metrics

If you want to grow your business, user acquisition would be your first goal. Keep an eye on the organic and paid users your app acquires from the campaigns on different channels.

Here are a few most important user acquisition metrics:

• New installs

It denotes the total number of users who download your app over a specific time period (daily, weekly, monthly).

• App Download Attribution

This metric allows you to get an insight into the downloads received from different channels. You can understand which channel is ideal for you and optimize your marketing efforts accordingly.

• Cost per Install (CPI)

It is the total amount incurred by your business to acquire a new user via paid ads. Remember that this metric takes only paid installs into consideration, not organic ones.

Quick tip: If you want to increase app downloads, consider your website to be a potential source to drive new installations. Add a ‘Download the App’ button to your website so that your site viewers can install the mobile application.

2. User Engagement Metrics

Imagine you have acquired lots of user downloads. But without the right engagement strategies, many of these downloads may end up in uninstallation. Here are a few user engagement metrics:

• Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Active Users

Keep an eye on the active users on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. These are respectively called DAU (Daily Active Users), WAU (Weekly Active Users), and MAU (Monthly Active Users).

These insights will help you to understand how much value your app is bringing to the users. Accordingly, you can optimize the user experience on the app.

You can check out this blog on how to improve user experience on your mobile application.

• App Stickiness

Stickiness denotes how much memorable, addictive, and usable your app is for the users. It will help you to point out the percentage of users who are returning to the app month after month.

Does it seem to be the same as the previous metric? It is not. Let us explain it by outlining how to measure both metrics.

DAU = Number of daily app sessions / Number of daily unique users

Similarly, WAU = Number of weekly app sessions / Number of weekly unique users

And, MAU = Number of monthly app sessions / Number of monthly unique users

On the other hand, App Stickiness = Daily Active Users / Monthly Active Users

Tracking this metric will help you to understand which aspects of your app are the most helpful and the key activities of the users. And if you engage digital marketing services to promote the USPs of your app, don’t forget to flaunt these!

• App Session

This metric denotes the time between launching an app and closing it. That way, you can understand the amount of time a user spent in your app.

Now, this time is not always indicative of the success of the app. For instance, if your app allows users to insert their daily expenditures to track savings, they may not spend a long time on the app. It doesn’t necessarily mean your app is failing to provide them value.

On the other hand, the success of a gaming app often depends on the amount of time people spend on the app. So, based on the type of your app, you can determine its success.

• Click-Through Rate

Here, we are talking about the marketing measures you have adopted for your app. check out the engagement metrics of push notifications, emails, in-app messages, ad campaigns, etc. These will help you to understand which campaigns and channels are the most effective for you.

Another instance of measuring CTR is during A/B testing. You can see which content, buttons, creatives, emojis, etc. are encouraging the users to interact.

3. User Retention Metrics

Okay, this is the final type of metric we want to discuss. 

Retaining your users is at the core of any app development. Do you know that an average app loses about 77% of its Daily Active User (DAUs) within the first three days of installation?

With this note in mind, let’s get started with our app retention metrics.

• App Retention Rate

This is the most obvious one. Pay attention to app retention rate to determine the app’s demand in the market. The moment you see a decrease in the retention rate stay alert of high competition or check the performance of your app.

Depending on your app, create a marketing buzz in the market so that the users don’t get a chance to turn away from your app. for instance, if you have an eCommerce application, marketing campaigns around an upcoming mega sale will help you to retain lots of customers.

•  Churn Rate

Just the opposite of the previous pointer, the churn rate determines the number of users who have uninstalled an app or stopped interacting with it.

• Customer Lifetime Value

This metric gives you a monetary valuation of your existing customers. It will help you to build a loyal programme to retain the most valuable customers.

Quick Tip: Leverage push notification to encourage the users to complete an action that they have started in the app. For instance, you can ask them to shop the items they have abandoned in your eCommerce app. you can notify them when all the virtual lives are restored and they can continue playing in your gaming app.

Way Forward

Measuring these metrics coupled with paying attention to the users’ feedbacks will help you to get an insight into how your app is doing in the market. We are sure that these understandings will help you to optimize the app and make it irreplaceable. Our best wishes are with you!